Arenac Eastern Superintendent takes new position in Southgate

TWINING — Arenac Eastern Superintendent Bill Grusecki announced he was taking up the superintendent position in the Southgate school district, a suburban community located near Detroit, on Wednesday, March 28.

Grusecki handed his resignation to the Arenac Eastern school board that night, effective June 30. He will then start work at Southgate on July 1. He signed the superintendent contract with the Southgate school district on Tuesday after being offered the position two weeks ago.

Grusecki said he applied for the position in January and made it through two rounds of interviews before being selected among three finalists.

He said that as a former student at Arenac Eastern, he was grateful for the opportunity to work as the superintendent there, but is moving on for professional advancement.

“It’s always been a professional goal of mine to be a superintendent, and since I came here in 2009 I have sure learned a lot about being a superintendent,” Grusecki said. “I’ve been everything here, and my goal is, I want to go to a larger district and just be the superintendent.”

He added the school board would begin its search for a new superintendent after the school’s spring break. Grusecki believes the board will be successful in finding a good superintendent to take his place.

“I want to thank Arenac Eastern for giving me an opportunity to come back here,” Grusecki said. “I know the board has the best interests of the kids and the community in mind, and I know whatever they do to replace me, they will be successful at it.”

Ann Brown, Arenac Eastern school board president, said the board was aware Grusecki was seeking the position since January.

“We’re sad to see him go, but we understand his reason for leaving,” Brown said.

The board will meet April 9 to discuss what to do about the district’s administration going forward. She said hiring a new superintendent is one option, but the other possibilities will be raised by the Bay-Arenac Intermediate School District, such as having a joint principal-superintendent.

When the AuGres-Sims school district started looking for a new superintendent, the ISD proposed possibilities such as using a corporate entity of administrators to function as as a superintendent, or operating with ISD Superintendent Michael Dewey as superintendent in name only.

Grusecki has been the superintendent at Arenac Eastern since December of 2009.